Speaker 1: Masslave dot Com columnist and co host of the Fenway
Speaker 1: Rundown podcast, Sean McAdam is joining us right now. Sean,
Speaker 1: thank you for the time, and it is interesting times
Speaker 1: up there in Boston. So I'll just start generically with
Speaker 1: what you think about what they did, Like, how excited
Speaker 1: is the fan base. Didn't they have one of their
Speaker 1: best attendance days Tuesday night?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they did. They've been selling out Fenway for the
Speaker 2: better part of this last month, ever since the turnaround began,
Speaker 2: and I think for the most part, the fan base
Speaker 2: likes the deals they made earlier this week. They're the
Speaker 2: kind of deals, frankly that maybe aren't going to be
Speaker 2: fully evaluated or properly evaluated for a while now, because
Speaker 2: so much of what the Red Sox gave up are
Speaker 2: futures young starting pitchers. So it isn't as if they
Speaker 2: subtracted from the active roster in the middle of a
Speaker 2: playoff hunt. It's going to take a while to see
Speaker 2: whether this was a good deal or not. But in
Speaker 2: the moment, adding somebody like Adley Rutchman and sort of
Speaker 2: around the fringes of the roster with Eli White as
Speaker 2: a depth outfielder and Eric Miller as a high leverage
Speaker 2: lefty in the bullpen. Are certainly the kind of moves
Speaker 2: that a team in contention would make, and a team
Speaker 2: that all of a sudden is kind of going for
Speaker 2: it would make.
Speaker 3: Sean. The reason they sold out was the White Sox
Speaker 3: were in town. That's why. So let's not. Let's not.
Speaker 4: I didn't diminish the game they played last night and
Speaker 4: how much the White Sox did not show up to
Speaker 4: that game.
Speaker 3: So you know Davis Martin brough first inning anyways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've roughed him up twice in the last couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. They beat him in Chicago too.
Speaker 4: Yes, I don't Why are you reminding me, Sean? I
Speaker 4: was going to give you credit for being a nice guy.
Speaker 4: Now you're back to being a masshole. So it's fine.
Speaker 4: It's fine. I love what you just said, though about
Speaker 4: we won't know for a few years whether this trade matters. Right,
Speaker 4: That such a difference from what we thought we knew
Speaker 4: about Craig Breslo.
Speaker 3: It was, we don't want to give up this guy.
Speaker 3: We don't want to give up this guy. Now, all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, boom, we give a fifteen.
Speaker 4: Game winning streak we go twenty nine to five in
Speaker 4: our last thirty four games, and now we'll give up
Speaker 4: what allegedly is our top prospects.
Speaker 3: What changed just the winning streak?
Speaker 2: Well, I think a couple of things. The winning streak
Speaker 2: certainly played a role here. They've gone from fourteen games
Speaker 2: under five hundred to ten games over, and as recently
Speaker 2: as the day of the deadline they were nine games over.
Speaker 2: That's a pretty big swing. That's one thing. A second
Speaker 2: is that it's a wide open American league. As you
Speaker 2: guys know, there is no super team. It's not like
Speaker 2: you've got the Dodgers or the Brewers in the National
Speaker 2: League to worry about. The Red Sox are essentially have
Speaker 2: snuck up on both the Yankees and Rays in the East.
Speaker 2: They have gone a combined eight to zero against those
Speaker 2: two teams head to head in the last month. And
Speaker 2: there was a pathway to get to the World Series,
Speaker 2: which would have been laughable only a month ago. And finally,
Speaker 2: I think there's some impatience on the part of the
Speaker 2: fan base that ownership and management since it has been
Speaker 2: eight years since they've been to the World Series. That
Speaker 2: may not seem like a lifetime for a team that
Speaker 2: once weathered an eighty six year old drought. But eight
Speaker 2: years is a long time when you won four in
Speaker 2: the span of fourteen seasons. And more than that, this
Speaker 2: team has won one playoff series since it last won
Speaker 2: its last title in twenty eighteen, so there's been a
Speaker 2: lot of bloomer busts. They either make the playoffs or
Speaker 2: finish fourth or fifth in their division. And I think
Speaker 2: they looked at this and said, you know what, with
Speaker 2: some tweaking here, we can be the best team in
Speaker 2: the American League. And they sort of cast aside that
Speaker 2: idea of sustainability of trying to play meaningful baseball every
Speaker 2: September and decided to go all In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 5: When Craig Breslow spoke to the media specifically about Adlie
Speaker 5: Rushman's injury, were you looking for us for I mean
Speaker 5: for Red Sox fans. Do you think Red Sox fans
Speaker 5: are looking for more of a definitive like, yeah, he's
Speaker 5: gonna be fine, like Craig Breslo said, I talked to
Speaker 5: him and it seems to be progressing. Like did that
Speaker 5: seem like enough of a vote of confidence or Red
Speaker 5: Sox fans pretty worried about this injury.
Speaker 2: I don't think they're worried, Eric, but I think that
Speaker 2: was a case of Craig Breslow understanding that the team
Speaker 2: has been criticized for either misdiagnosing an injury or being
Speaker 2: overly optimistic about about timetables for return. When Garrett Crochet
Speaker 2: went on the IL back at the end of April,
Speaker 2: the stance was well, he may miss a turn, but
Speaker 2: he'll be back soon, and the same with Rome and Anthony.
Speaker 2: Before he went on the IL, it was well, we
Speaker 2: don't know if he's even gonna go on, and if
Speaker 2: he does, he'll be ready as soon as the stint
Speaker 2: is up. Those guys haven't played yet, they're not particularly
Speaker 2: close to playing, and we're now four months later, so
Speaker 2: they are very much in the crosshairs here in New
Speaker 2: England for either providing misleading information or information that hasn't
Speaker 2: been accurate. So I think they're out of the timetable business.
Speaker 2: And if you listen to that Zoom call and see
Speaker 2: breslo answering that question, he sort of chuckles about it,
Speaker 2: which to me was a tell like, oh no, I'm
Speaker 2: not going down this road again, Sean.
Speaker 4: But isn't this what the teams do now? The Yankees
Speaker 4: are doing the same thing with Judge. Oh, he had
Speaker 4: imaging Stanton always close but he can't run yet, right?
Speaker 4: Isn't this kind of what teams do now? I mean,
Speaker 4: I guess they close for two years now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess so AJ And I'm not sure I
Speaker 2: see the logic in it, because ultimately you have to
Speaker 2: answer for it. If you get your fan base all
Speaker 2: excited that an injury is minor and that a return
Speaker 2: is imminent, and four months later one of them in
Speaker 2: this case Roman Anthony is still an extended spring and
Speaker 2: the other just through for the first time in weeks
Speaker 2: and weeks on yesterday, then you get exposed. And I'm
Speaker 2: not saying that they deliberately tried to mislead who knows
Speaker 2: what the motivation is, the fact is they have been
Speaker 2: wildly off base in trying to guess when their players
Speaker 2: are going to rejoin them, and I think they've decided,
Speaker 2: you know what, we're out of this game. You can't win.
Speaker 2: You either get criticized or people think that you're lying
Speaker 2: or hiding things. And so there's no real benefit for
Speaker 2: them for taking a swing at.
Speaker 1: That this is that time of year. Aj it is
Speaker 1: Baseball's time to shine, and it is see geeks time
Speaker 1: to shine with MLB tickets and finding the best pricing,
Speaker 1: seating and games that are even sold out available on
Speaker 1: sea geek.
Speaker 4: Absolutely if you want to go to the biggest matchups
Speaker 4: coming up. We have Yankees Cubs coming up. Where's Yankees
Speaker 4: red Sox? That means stuff Again, there's some big moments
Speaker 4: that are coming up here in the as the penachases
Speaker 4: really heat up, go to seke can find those green
Speaker 4: tickets with the best deals and get yourself out to
Speaker 4: an MLB game.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and they're straightforward with you.
Speaker 1: They will actually put a red dot next to a
Speaker 1: ticket that they don't feel is your best. Look. Green
Speaker 1: dot means very good code for you. It's Territory ten
Speaker 1: ten percent off your next set of MLB tickets at Seakeek.
Speaker 1: That's ten percent off MLB tickets when you use the
Speaker 1: promo code Territory one zero. Make sure you click the
Speaker 1: link in the description to download the app and have
Speaker 1: the code automatically added to your account so you can
Speaker 1: use it later.
Speaker 5: The fact that they traded Marcela Meyer is that a
Speaker 5: fault of the development how he was used once he
Speaker 5: made to the big leagues, or just a prime case
Speaker 5: of Eric Miller can really sling the rock and he
Speaker 5: needed somebody to throw well in the bullpen.
Speaker 2: Well, they needed a lefty in that bullpen Eric, particularly
Speaker 2: in the late innings. They've got a good back end,
Speaker 2: certainly with Chapman and Whitlock and a guy like Tyrone
Speaker 2: Guerrero who's really emerged as a late inning force with
Speaker 2: a lot of swing and miss to his game, but
Speaker 2: they didn't have that power lefty to match up in
Speaker 2: October should they get there, and I think that was
Speaker 2: a priority on trade deadline day. Now, the fact that
Speaker 2: they gave up Marcelo Meyer is in itself somewhat revealing,
Speaker 2: and I think it's indicative of the fact that this
Speaker 2: guy was once the fourth overall pick and was supposed
Speaker 2: to be a Corey Seeger type player. That is, someone
Speaker 2: who a left handed hitting shortstop with a big frame
Speaker 2: who could slug and be an all around all star.
Speaker 2: That didn't work out. Obviously. Part of that is Meyer
Speaker 2: couldn't stay on the field in each of his last
Speaker 2: four pro seasons, not just the two that were spent
Speaker 2: in the big leagues. The last four seasons in the
Speaker 2: Red Sox organization, his year ended prematurely because of injury.
Speaker 2: There was a shoulder, there was a lumbar, there was
Speaker 2: a wrist, and this was a forearm this year. So
Speaker 2: that certainly curtailed his development. Even those two or three
Speaker 2: years in the minor leagues where he was injured, he
Speaker 2: lost a lot of development time. And then when he
Speaker 2: got opportunities as he did last year when Bregman got
Speaker 2: hurt and they plugged him in at third base, he
Speaker 2: didn't perform. Now, obviously that's not terribly rare for even
Speaker 2: the best prospects to come up and struggle and not
Speaker 2: succeed right away. But I think you add all the
Speaker 2: things in the inability to stay healthy, the not performing
Speaker 2: when he had opportunities, and a very crowded middle infield situation.
Speaker 2: Here I should add story under contract for one more year.
Speaker 2: Franklin Arius a top five prospect shortstop now at Triple
Speaker 2: A Wooster. You know they've got all kinds of options there,
Speaker 2: and I think that Marcelo Meyer went from this great,
Speaker 2: can't miss prospect to kind of just a guy here
Speaker 2: that they could afford to give up for a reliever.
Speaker 3: Sean. You mentioned the injuries. Is this a development thing
Speaker 3: with the Red Sox.
Speaker 4: Because again, Costas was supposed to be can't miss, Meyer
Speaker 4: was supposed to be cant miss Roman. Anthony has been
Speaker 4: missed basically the entire year. I mean, we can go
Speaker 4: Christian Campbell. I know he's not hurt, but he's in
Speaker 4: Triple A.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: There's been a lot of these guys that we hear
Speaker 4: about Red Sox, Red Sox, Red Sox. Here comes the
Speaker 4: next wave of talent. They either get injured or they
Speaker 4: don't pan out. Is this a development thing or is
Speaker 4: this just bad luck?
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it is bad luck. Aj
Speaker 2: You know that some guys have have flopped, and Campbell
Speaker 2: is a perfect example of that, a guy that got
Speaker 2: a pretty big contract extension just a few days into
Speaker 2: his rookie season and now is kind of mired at
Speaker 2: Triple A with no spot on the big league roster
Speaker 2: for him and a long contractual commitment. But a lot
Speaker 2: of this is bad luck. You know, Casas blew out
Speaker 2: a knee running to first base and then has had
Speaker 2: several setbacks last year. Anthony had the oblique in August
Speaker 2: that kept him out the rest of the year. You
Speaker 2: guys know, that's an injury that lingers and can't be
Speaker 2: hurried back from. Meyer had the litany of injuries that
Speaker 2: I went through. The odd thing is is that the
Speaker 2: Red Sox have gone from an organization that seemingly always
Speaker 2: has good prospect position players coming into their system and
Speaker 2: one that couldn't produce pitching to the exact opposite. You
Speaker 2: look at the staff now and you see Jake Bennett
Speaker 2: not someone they fully developed. Obviously they traded for him
Speaker 2: in this past winter, but guys like Peyton, Toley and
Speaker 2: Connolly Early who they traded to get Curtis Mead. All
Speaker 2: of a sudden, they're flushed with young pitching, but a
Speaker 2: lot of their position player prospects have either for health
Speaker 2: or performance or both have stalled out on them.
Speaker 3: M interesting. Interesting, I don't know, it's interesting. It's interesting.
Speaker 4: It's an interesting argument, Sean, where certain organizations seems to
Speaker 4: have better luck with pitching, hitting, injuries.
Speaker 3: Not right, it's it's just it's always interesting.
Speaker 1: The Brewers developed pitching, the Guardians developed pitching, the Mariners
Speaker 1: keep pitching healthy.
Speaker 6: Right, there's identities.
Speaker 5: The White Sox.
Speaker 6: You used to be part of a White Sox team
Speaker 6: that kept pictures.
Speaker 3: Healthy, kept everyone healthy.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, there's a difference.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know, We'll see.
Speaker 4: I can't wait this This this Retchmen trade to me
Speaker 4: is fascinating just from now because Adly needs to get
Speaker 4: back obviously, But then three four years from now, if
Speaker 4: he doesn't sign back with the Red Sox, then see
Speaker 4: what Aaronson becomes, and see what Witherspoon becomes. And you know,
Speaker 4: the Narvaia's was just the Orioles had a catcher since
Speaker 4: they got rid of all their catchers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's not unlike the Crochet deal in
Speaker 2: that deal got a lot better, even though he hasn't
Speaker 2: contributed much this year, had kind of a lousy first
Speaker 2: month of the season, and then has been out with
Speaker 2: the shoulder issue since. But I think everyone agrees that
Speaker 2: Garrett Crochet is a frontline, top of the rotation starter
Speaker 2: who they now have under control. But that deal got
Speaker 2: a lot better when they extended him, and I think
Speaker 2: the same probably applies to Rutchman. The difference is that
Speaker 2: even though Crochet had Tommy John early in his career
Speaker 2: with the White Sox, that Rutchman's career has been much
Speaker 2: more stalled by injury and whether the Red Sox want
Speaker 2: to make that long term commitment to a guy who's
Speaker 2: been pretty banged up in his mid to late twenties
Speaker 2: and is going to be twenty nine if you extend
Speaker 2: him past next year.
Speaker 6: Hey, Sean, last one for me is Jaron Duran.
Speaker 1: Okay, I know I had a bomb last night, and
Speaker 1: we've all seen him be one of the better players
Speaker 1: in the game a couple of years ago. It's not
Speaker 1: been the same since he's been around trade rumors for
Speaker 1: a while and he seems to be kind.
Speaker 6: Of trashing himself.
Speaker 1: I know he's a very very vocal, out there, straightforward
Speaker 1: guy about how he's feeling, and he's not afraid to
Speaker 1: say I stink right now or for the entire season,
Speaker 1: we've had him on our show. So where's he at more?
Speaker 1: I would say mentally even than physically production wise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as recently as the last road trip, when I'm
Speaker 2: sure you guys saw the video of him being frustrated
Speaker 2: that Wilson Contreras didn't tag up and score on that.
Speaker 2: After that game, he was really kind of ripping himself.
Speaker 2: He's a guy who's emotional, who talks a lot about
Speaker 2: what he's feeling, and he's frustrated by the fact that
Speaker 2: he's hitting two ZHO five and we're into August. The
Speaker 2: odd thing is is that there's a lot more slug
Speaker 2: to his game this year. You know, he's got fifteen
Speaker 2: or sixteen homers now. He's he had been a obviously
Speaker 2: a speed and athletic guy in his first few years,
Speaker 2: with the ability to hit doubles and occasionally hit the
Speaker 2: ball out of the yard. This year it's been less
Speaker 2: of that profile and more of the swing and miss
Speaker 2: with some extra base production. So Chad Tracy, the interim manager,
Speaker 2: was talking about his struggles a week ago, and he
Speaker 2: pointed out that Duran is a completely different player with
Speaker 2: runners in scoring position. He's sitting close to three hundred
Speaker 2: in those situations, and the slug is there in ways
Speaker 2: in which it hasn't been, So it's like he's kind
Speaker 2: of traded in one part of his game for the other.
Speaker 2: He's frustrated that he's strike that he's been striking out
Speaker 2: as much, that he hasn't made more regular contact and
Speaker 2: contributed more offensively. But he's played a very good left
Speaker 2: field and he's contributed with the extra base production, so
Speaker 2: it's kind of a trade off. But I think Duran
Speaker 2: is the kind of guy who beats up and beats
Speaker 2: himself up lot and is always going to find fault
Speaker 2: and be frustrated over something about his game.
Speaker 1: For parents looking for a new path to help your
Speaker 1: child succeed this year, there's still time to enroll in
Speaker 1: K twelve powered online schools. K twelve Powered schools offer
Speaker 1: tuition free, accredited online public education for students in kindergarten
Speaker 1: through twelfth grade. Tod Father take it away.
Speaker 7: Stride is a wonderful option for anybody that's always on
Speaker 7: the run. I mean, look at myself, from playing baseball
Speaker 7: to helping out a lot of people. Stride is fantastic
Speaker 7: for your child to be homeschool. They will love it
Speaker 7: no matter what.
Speaker 1: K twelve's dedicated teachers are trained in virtual instruction, and
Speaker 1: they provide real time support, all in an online setting
Speaker 1: that works for your family at home or anywhere that
Speaker 1: there's internet. If you're on the go, it could be
Speaker 1: for you. It's not too late to enroll this fall.
Speaker 1: See how K twelve powered schools can help your child
Speaker 1: thrive this year and beyond. Enroll online today at K
Speaker 1: twelve dot com slash foul that's the letter K the
Speaker 1: number twelve dot com slash f o u l k
Speaker 1: twelve dot com slash foul k twelve, serving three million
Speaker 1: students and counting. Yeah, I mean, I like the honest
Speaker 1: I know that sometimes, you know, you guys can say
Speaker 1: if the teammates calling you out, you're not going to
Speaker 1: be too pleased, but.
Speaker 6: Figure it out after the game.
Speaker 3: No, I mean he I think that was just more
Speaker 3: of a.
Speaker 4: I don't know, just it got caught on camera, and
Speaker 4: I think it was I think he was more frustrated himself.
Speaker 4: It seemed like like he was more like, gosh, I
Speaker 4: got to get that guy in. And I know he
Speaker 4: outwardly showed it towards Contreras, but I didn't.
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's it's a weird. It's a weird dynamic.
Speaker 4: But they're still winning, so who cares what he's doing
Speaker 4: At this point, we all know that what we're winning,
Speaker 4: nobody cares.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that that's absolutely true that if this
Speaker 2: had happened maybe five six weeks ago, when these guys
Speaker 2: were you know, ten twelve, fourteen games under five hundred,
Speaker 2: then it becomes more of a story because they are hot,
Speaker 2: and they went three and one in Sacramento and just
Speaker 2: swept the Dodgers and came home and beat up on
Speaker 2: the White Sox. That it's a slip. Sorry, it's a blip.
Speaker 2: It does not become, you know, much of a story,
Speaker 2: and it's gone after twenty four hours.
Speaker 5: They used to not even be a story. They beat
Speaker 5: the White Sox. Who cares but one story? That is
Speaker 5: what's the difference in the vibe? What'sn't the difference in
Speaker 5: the vibe between Cora as the manager and Chad Tracy
Speaker 5: as a manager.
Speaker 2: I don't know that I can answer that, Eric. I
Speaker 2: mean a lot of these guys were familiar with Chad
Speaker 2: Tracy because he had been the Triple A manager for
Speaker 2: the previous four and a half seasons. And whether there
Speaker 2: were homegrown guys coming up through the system like Meyer,
Speaker 2: like Anthony, like Rafaela, like a bray, you, they had
Speaker 2: all had some experience with him, or guys that went
Speaker 2: on rehabit rehab assignments after injuries and went for you know,
Speaker 2: five days, ten days and Worcester. So he was not
Speaker 2: somebody that got plopped in and had to introduce himself
Speaker 2: to all twenty six guys, So I think there was
Speaker 2: a familiarity and a comfort factor with him right from
Speaker 2: the beginning, and he's been a guy that has He's
Speaker 2: definitely a player manager, that's his profile. He's reluctant to
Speaker 2: be critical at all in the media of any player.
Speaker 2: He defends players. You know, there was a when they
Speaker 2: kind of bottomed out early in the year and lost
Speaker 2: two out of three in Denver to the Rockies. Tracy
Speaker 2: sent every guy on the team a text message that said, Hey,
Speaker 2: I'm with you. We're down now, but I know we're
Speaker 2: coming back, and when we're when we do come back,
Speaker 2: I'm going to be with you. Then I think he
Speaker 2: really tapped into the personal side with them and let
Speaker 2: them know that he had their back, that he wasn't
Speaker 2: going to throw him under the bus because the team
Speaker 2: wasn't performing well. And I think over time they got
Speaker 2: a little healthier, they started getting more contributions from other guys,
Speaker 2: including a lot of depth and four A guys that
Speaker 2: weren't necessarily part of the picture at the start of
Speaker 2: the year. And you guys know how it is when
Speaker 2: a team starts to get on a roll and you
Speaker 2: don't have much better of a role than you know.
Speaker 2: Thirty two and eight over the last forty.
Speaker 1: Sean awesome insight. Thank you for joining us. Fun deadline
Speaker 1: to cover and you've got you got something to cover the.
Speaker 3: Last albunthould be fun.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it should be great.
Speaker 1: Make sure you check out John's workmass live dot com
Speaker 1: and also his podcast which I go sock cop there
Speaker 1: Fenway Rundown podcast, Go look it up. Thank you, Yes,
Speaker 1: go socks in jenneral either sock you could pick either
Speaker 1: either sock or both.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jan, thanks for having me guys.
Speaker 1: Hey Also Atley Ruschman new to the party, debuting sometime soon.
Speaker 1: We have a shirt for it with his signature Adley
Speaker 1: Richman Shirts fol Territory shop dot com. Marty Caswell joining
Speaker 1: us right now and you hear her on prior Territory.
Speaker 1: I listened last night to the Trade Deadline episode with
Speaker 1: her and Darren.
Speaker 6: It was awesome Marty.
Speaker 1: Great to see you again, and thank you for giving
Speaker 1: FT some love on that episode, being like cool, real,
Speaker 1: recognize real, everybody thinks. Aj Preller again had a really
Speaker 1: nice trade deadline. So let's dive deeper into it. Casey,
Speaker 1: Miz Robbie Ray how surprised, were you and Padres fans
Speaker 1: When some say Aj Preller doesn't have any prospects left.
Speaker 6: Apparently he did.
Speaker 8: I think Aj Preller loves hearing that.
Speaker 9: I think the surprise that I had and a lot
Speaker 9: of Padres fans had, they were able to add two
Speaker 9: starting pictures and not have to give up any other
Speaker 9: guys in their bullpen.
Speaker 8: Mason Miller was never going to be traded.
Speaker 9: That they were able to go in old Adrian morrohone
Speaker 9: who can be a agent after the season. They can
Speaker 9: keep Jeremiah Estrada, Wandy Peralta, Yuki Matsuey. I think I
Speaker 9: think we are pleasantly surprised that the Padres were able
Speaker 9: to go ahead and give up prospects that are not
Speaker 9: going to impact We're not expected to impact the.
Speaker 8: Padres in the foreseeable future.
Speaker 9: So listen on that last home stand, which we said,
Speaker 9: with a crucial homestand right six games versus the Rockies
Speaker 9: and the Giants, the Padres got a total of ten
Speaker 9: point one innings from their starting pitching, okay for Michael
Speaker 9: King and Walker Bueler. The rest of it was made
Speaker 9: out of bullpen games. You guys know, not sustainable if
Speaker 9: you want to be a legitimate playoff team. So the
Speaker 9: Padres adding Robbie Ray and Casey Mize and not giving
Speaker 9: up their top prospect and Ethan Sallas a very pleasant surprise,
Speaker 9: probably different the pitch.
Speaker 4: He did do well, But yes, they need starting pitching.
Speaker 4: But I'll just have one question, what changed with the hitting?
Speaker 4: All of a sudden they can hit. The Padres can hit.
Speaker 4: Is it because they traded for starting pitching?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 4: Oh, what changed with the hitting? We'll go back to
Speaker 4: the starting pitching. But I got to talk about the hitting.
Speaker 9: That's a great question because I think aj Proler made
Speaker 9: it clear. Here are the pictures. It lies to our guys.
Speaker 9: Manny Machado has to hit. Jackson Merrill has to hit.
Speaker 9: Erniera Tatis has to keep doing what he's doing and
Speaker 9: be more consistent.
Speaker 8: And hopefully some more slug.
Speaker 9: I think it's been their patients at the patients of
Speaker 9: the plate with the strike zone. So I know there's
Speaker 9: a lot of heat on this offense, on the hitting coach,
Speaker 9: on their approach, but they figured something out and they
Speaker 9: went from the worst offense in baseball gosh in June,
Speaker 9: to really a top five offense. More of what we expected.
Speaker 9: And they've also got some health too. Jake Pruinworth, Jake
Speaker 9: Quinnworth had a concussion that he played with. It was
Speaker 9: for a couple of weeks, then he goes on the
Speaker 9: injured list. He's been a lot better since he returned.
Speaker 9: Freddy for Mean got hit in the head quite a
Speaker 9: few times as well. I think he had at least
Speaker 9: two stints on the concussion list. Since he came back,
Speaker 9: he's been a lot better. The padres are healthier right now,
Speaker 9: but the most importantly approach at the plate, more patience
Speaker 9: has really helped this offense right.
Speaker 5: I need you to break down what you're seeing from
Speaker 5: Manny Machado in the last What is it? What did
Speaker 5: you say? How many games? I forget how many games
Speaker 5: Manny's success? Does that make him a better leader in
Speaker 5: the clubhouse? Was he not as engaging or the team
Speaker 5: not as engaged with him when he wasn't doing well?
Speaker 5: Because he's never really struggled in his career for a
Speaker 5: long extended period.
Speaker 8: Now it was it was puzzling for him.
Speaker 9: He's never he has never dealt with anything like this
Speaker 9: in his entire career. Eric, when you mentioned his I'm sorry,
Speaker 9: what is engaging. I don't think the leadership is ever
Speaker 9: The leadership thing with Manny has not been an issue.
Speaker 9: I know he's gotten a wrap around baseball for you know,
Speaker 9: the hustle or whatnot. But the work ethic was never
Speaker 9: in question. He's usually one of the first guys out there.
Speaker 9: He's always getting his work in and he had no
Speaker 9: answers to as to why he was struggling. It wasn't
Speaker 9: it wasn't a healthy I mean, he deals with certain
Speaker 9: things that we find.
Speaker 8: Out about often after the season, but Manny Machado said
Speaker 8: a lot of it was luck. He got unlucky.
Speaker 9: I don't know what changed with his approach now. He
Speaker 9: did speak early about working in the off season with
Speaker 9: a different hitting coach and it took him a while
Speaker 9: to go ahead and get his stance back and adapt.
Speaker 9: But he has been a much different hitter since June,
Speaker 9: and it's it's it's helped carry this Padres offense. The
Speaker 9: Padres we're gonna go, as Craig Stamman said, the Padres
Speaker 9: were only going to go as far as Manny takes them,
Speaker 9: and he has been a difference maker.
Speaker 8: Same thing for Jackson Merrill.
Speaker 9: As of late who dealt with the first real struggles
Speaker 9: of his entire.
Speaker 8: Of his career.
Speaker 4: All right, Marty, now we can go to the pictures.
Speaker 4: We got my favorite part of the hitting out of
Speaker 4: the way, so now let's go to the pictures. Robbie Ray, right,
Speaker 4: Casey Miz both yes, hey, SuDS, right, you had him
Speaker 4: to Michael King, you had him to this bullpen. Is
Speaker 4: this enough for the Padres to make a run to
Speaker 4: the World Series? You know, play the Dodgers. They first
Speaker 4: they have to get there, but then they got to
Speaker 4: play the Dodgers, the Phillies, the Braves, the Brewers, the Cubs.
Speaker 4: Is this starting rotation and bullpen enough with this offense?
Speaker 8: The bullpen?
Speaker 9: Yes? Could that's your biggest check mark right now? You
Speaker 9: knew the Padres biggest strength going in was going to.
Speaker 8: Be their bullpen, especially the back end with Morhone and Miller.
Speaker 9: And yes they had they were pitching chaos is what
Speaker 9: Craig Stamon called it, because they were going with you know,
Speaker 9: bullpen games started by JP Sears or Waldy Peralta. But
Speaker 9: right now, when you can add Casey Miz, Robbie Ray
Speaker 9: and Robbie Ray himself has more quality starts than the
Speaker 9: entire Padres team. That's a huge difference. It also takes
Speaker 9: some pressure off of Michael King. I know j probably
Speaker 9: would have liked to have added one more lefty bat right.
Speaker 9: You need to show that up about out in left field,
Speaker 9: especially with Ramon Laurento out for the season.
Speaker 8: The Padres are hopeful that they will.
Speaker 9: Get Miguil and Duharr back, probably late late in August,
Speaker 9: maybe early September. Also Samad Taylor, who is out with
Speaker 9: the Obliker injury, they're expecting him back in a couple
Speaker 9: of weeks too. So they're hoping right now that what
Speaker 9: you're seeing from Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill and for
Speaker 9: no tatist is sustainable, that this offense is who we
Speaker 9: think or expected them to be, And you take some
Speaker 9: pressure off of Michael King, King, Buehler, Robbie Ray, Casey
Speaker 9: miz that's a legitimated rotation. I think Randy Vasquez game
Speaker 9: a bit of a spark yesterday with six innings.
Speaker 8: It was the.
Speaker 9: Padres only their third quality start since June third, and
Speaker 9: the first by a picture not named Michael King or
Speaker 9: Walker Bueller. So you add those to those guys who
Speaker 9: can eat up some innings. That's a huge boose for
Speaker 9: the Padres. This series with the Diamondbacks is massive. The
Speaker 9: Padres will see them again the final three games of
Speaker 9: the regular season.
Speaker 8: I think right now they're feeling pretty pretty good. They
Speaker 8: added not just one picture, they added too. That's a
Speaker 8: huge difference.
Speaker 9: And we'll see what happens with with Paveta and Musgrove.
Speaker 9: If one of those guys can come back or both,
Speaker 9: that's an added bonus for the Padres. But I don't
Speaker 9: know that if you're a j prowler that you went
Speaker 9: into the deadline expecting either of them to come back
Speaker 9: or be impactful that if they can get one of
Speaker 9: those guys back, that to me is just an added
Speaker 9: bonus for this for this team.
Speaker 5: Well, before we get to the whole Paveda and Muscrove thing,
Speaker 5: like you just said, well, who gets pushed out? Who
Speaker 5: gets pushed out when one of those guys, I think
Speaker 5: one of those guys comes back and is a starter
Speaker 5: for this team. Who gets pushed out? Is it Walter Buehler,
Speaker 5: Is it Randy Vasquez?
Speaker 8: That's a that's a great question.
Speaker 9: I know the Padres would like to go ahead and
Speaker 9: give Walker Bueller more oft more time off in between
Speaker 9: starts at thirty two years old and a couple of
Speaker 9: years removed from his Tommy John, We're gonna see a
Speaker 9: lot of I mean, it's a good problem to have, right,
Speaker 9: We're gonna see what happens when the Padres activate Robbie
Speaker 9: Ray today. I don't know, doubt that her mom Markus
Speaker 9: did himself any favors yesterday. Griffin Canning has struggled as well.
Speaker 8: But it's a good problem for the Padres to have.
Speaker 9: Maybe they can piggyback a couple of guys and do
Speaker 9: that rather than the pitching chaos they've had to depend
Speaker 9: on to get to this point.
Speaker 4: Marty, what about Nick Pavetta. We saw him yesterday through
Speaker 4: too too. He walked straight to the dugout it's hurt,
Speaker 4: and then he went. But then he went through twenty
Speaker 4: pitches afterwards. So was he like I have never seen
Speaker 4: this in my life where a guy just says, Nope,
Speaker 4: forget the trainer, I'm just leaving the field on my own.
Speaker 3: Yeah, good will.
Speaker 9: He felt something in his elbow and it was the
Speaker 9: first time that he had felt something as he makes
Speaker 9: his rehab. He pitched in a bullpen session at Petco Park,
Speaker 9: as did Joe Musgrove over the weekend. He did not
Speaker 9: feel anything, but yesterday he felt something in his elbow.
Speaker 9: He took himself out, he went into the into the
Speaker 9: clubhouse and with a trainer, he sat on the bench.
Speaker 8: He started to feel a little bit better.
Speaker 9: So then he goes into a clothed into a cage
Speaker 9: and he threw and he felt better. So I thought
Speaker 9: Joe Musgrove had a good point when I asked him
Speaker 9: about what he's seen from from Pavetta as they rehad back,
Speaker 9: and he said, I think for him it's confidence in
Speaker 9: trusting his arm. There's been days where it's been hard
Speaker 9: for him to re let the ball go and be
Speaker 9: confident going through his motion. So he thinks of maybe
Speaker 9: there's a mental block, and if I ripped this, am
Speaker 9: I going to do something myself back. As you guys know,
Speaker 9: Nick Pavetta has a very important date coming up on
Speaker 9: August twenty second. If he does not return by that point,
Speaker 9: the Padres can turn his player option, which amounts to
Speaker 9: thirty two million dollars, into a team option.
Speaker 8: So I don't know if Paveta is feeling just all.
Speaker 9: That pressure of that date and the uncertainty of his
Speaker 9: future and what could happen. But he felt something yesterday.
Speaker 9: The Padres are waiting to see how he feels today,
Speaker 9: how he came out of his additional throwing session before
Speaker 9: they make any any additional moves or release any information.
Speaker 9: But how he came out of that second session will
Speaker 9: say a lot. The good news for the Padres they
Speaker 9: don't have to race him back. The same thing for
Speaker 9: Joe Muskrove because they have the two additional arms. But
Speaker 9: it's not good not good news for Nick Pavetta, who
Speaker 9: is working to come back and likely was on track
Speaker 9: to return of the Padres before August twenty second, if
Speaker 9: he didn't have any setback. So we're going to see
Speaker 9: if yesterday was a physical setback. But as one member
Speaker 9: of the Padre said, the fact that he felt something
Speaker 9: the very first time he threw off a mound in
Speaker 9: an actual game does not necessarily bode bode well for Nick.
Speaker 9: So fingers crossed for him, But I have never seen
Speaker 9: that before. The fans who were around it thought that
Speaker 9: he decided it was a strike, was strike three, and
Speaker 9: he just walked off. But the plan for Bavetta yesterday
Speaker 9: was for him to go two to three innings, as
Speaker 9: did Musgrove. Musgrove going but two and two thirds and
Speaker 9: thirty nine pitches, So we'll see my favorite lot of.
Speaker 5: We watched him. If you watched the second baseman, third
Speaker 5: basement or second bass and first basement, base runner, first
Speaker 5: base coats, they're all just like what so, yeah, nobody's nobody's.
Speaker 9: No one new no fans. Fans didn't know. The umpire
Speaker 9: seemed confused. The guys in the dugout like what's what's
Speaker 9: going on? Like waving him back, like hey, that's that's
Speaker 9: just two outs.
Speaker 8: So I don't know.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 3: The uh.
Speaker 5: The Padres fans have to be optimistic about the future
Speaker 5: because clearly a J Pereller was allowed to spend some money,
Speaker 5: which everybody knows that the new ownership is coming on board,
Speaker 5: and you would think they wouldn't like not spend money. Well,
Speaker 5: you just don't know. He was allowed to spend money.
Speaker 5: Is that Is that true? Or is that positive for
Speaker 5: the future?
Speaker 9: Eric took on I think eight million dollars by adding
Speaker 9: those two players, which is I think, which is great
Speaker 9: because we didn't know that's been the big question mark,
Speaker 9: and that was the question that was asked of you know,
Speaker 9: of Preller when he spoke to the media before the
Speaker 9: trade deadline, because he doesn't necessarily have the conversations with
Speaker 9: the new ownership group Jose Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
Speaker 8: And by the way, they are expected to go ahead and.
Speaker 9: Take the reins the official rains from the Seiler family
Speaker 9: in the next I think next week and a half
Speaker 9: or so. But yes, Preller made it clear to us
Speaker 9: in his trade deadline zoom that he was able. He
Speaker 9: has been in talk with the ownership group and that
Speaker 9: allowed him to go ahead and take on a little
Speaker 9: bit of money, a little bit of money at this deadline.
Speaker 9: So yes, the fact that he was able to do
Speaker 9: this bodes well. Hopefully we'll find we will find out
Speaker 9: a lot more about the ownership group when they speak
Speaker 9: to us in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 8: But I think it's a good sign.
Speaker 9: And listen, you guys see it man, they're packing it
Speaker 9: in at Peco Park. I would be shocked if every
Speaker 9: single game the rest of the season is not a sellout,
Speaker 9: which is a complete different scene from what we see
Speaker 9: the team they're chasing in the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Padres
Speaker 9: are on track to draw more than three million fans
Speaker 9: for the fourth consecutive year. If you're that ownership group,
Speaker 9: and this is what you paid the record three point
Speaker 9: nine billion dollar dollars four for this franchise, you want
Speaker 9: the sellouts, you want the playoffs. And the fact that
Speaker 9: they agent Peller add some money the deadline is a
Speaker 9: very good sign. I think for Padres fans they should
Speaker 9: be excited because they went for it.
Speaker 8: AJ Pler went for it, That's what he said.
Speaker 9: I saw you, I saw I love your criticism on
Speaker 9: the Brewerism then not going after school. Well, when they
Speaker 9: had this chance, the Padres a J. Peler, they know
Speaker 9: they have a very particular window with this group of players.
Speaker 9: And so when you're going for it, when your goal
Speaker 9: is we have a chance to the playoffs, man, we're
Speaker 9: going to go for it. It's a good sign that
Speaker 9: they spend some money.
Speaker 6: Someone's like, nope, you're good.
Speaker 1: Well, perfect timing actually, and I love literally all fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes of this. So Wright, you go answer the door.
Speaker 1: Tell them next time. They got to know that you're
Speaker 1: live on the show.
Speaker 9: But yeah, last week, okay, and I have one more
Speaker 9: point for aj Prazinski, because the last time you were
Speaker 9: on the show, you're asking me what does it take
Speaker 9: to go ahead and get a.
Speaker 8: Player on this show. The answer was very, very obvious.
Speaker 9: You call your buddy the Pope and you say listen,
Speaker 9: you have him put a request into the padres say listen, listen.
Speaker 4: I would they would still say they're focusing on playing.
Speaker 4: They would still say that, no, no, and that only
Speaker 4: works Marty for the White Sox, because he's a White Sox.
Speaker 3: That only works with that.
Speaker 1: They would say, Pope doesn't like us, it's ever focusing
Speaker 1: on just because we're the Friars.
Speaker 3: I mean that we we believe that, you know.
Speaker 6: We pad guys on.
Speaker 4: We've had yeah, that show, listen, Marty, we we like
Speaker 4: I mean, there's there's a bunch that we've had on.
Speaker 4: We've had Chrome Zone on.
Speaker 3: We've had.
Speaker 8: Awesome.
Speaker 6: Mason Miller comes on all the time.
Speaker 3: Mason Miller's awesome.
Speaker 8: He's great. Mason Gillers Miller not traded. What a bonus.
Speaker 4: Yes, I can't wait, I can't wait. This is gonna
Speaker 4: be fun, especially since Fox has the National League this year. Marty,
Speaker 4: and I mean, I probably but I would love to
Speaker 4: do the Padres Dodgers series again like I got to
Speaker 4: do four years ago with the Goose and the whole
Speaker 4: thing that landed is a great rivalry.
Speaker 6: And so great a lot of teams.
Speaker 1: Because I've been listening to every FT Network show and
Speaker 1: their trade deadline shows, Marty and you know some fans,
Speaker 1: you know, sending in questions and hosts answering there, why
Speaker 1: didn't we get Mason Miller.
Speaker 6: Mason Miller wasn't available at the end.
Speaker 1: Did listen probably, but by the time we got to
Speaker 1: the deadline and they were playing well and he's like,
Speaker 1: nothing's going to move him.
Speaker 6: So for fans that he wasn't going anywhere, right, he
Speaker 6: was not.
Speaker 8: I think Miller kind of knew he's because.
Speaker 9: When we were asking him about the trade allin speculation,
Speaker 9: he would say, I see what's out there. I see
Speaker 9: it on the internet. I'm hearing it on foul Territory.
Speaker 9: But based on his conversation with management, he had a
Speaker 9: pretty good indication he wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 8: I mean, aj.
Speaker 9: Preller has coveted three players badly that I know of
Speaker 9: in his tenure as Padre's GM. When was Shohio Tani
Speaker 9: didn't get him. The other was Juan Soto got him,
Speaker 9: and the other was Mason Miller and he gave up
Speaker 9: his favorite son, devrees to get him. Mailer was not
Speaker 9: going anywhere.
Speaker 1: Wait one more, I think there's one more to add
Speaker 1: to the four. That wasn't he obsessed with Trey Turner
Speaker 1: because he gave him away and then he was trying
Speaker 1: to get him back and all that.
Speaker 9: Yes, yeah, he did try to get Trey Turner back.
Speaker 9: That was That was the first that was I think,
Speaker 9: like Prolers first thing when he when he became GM,
Speaker 9: was to get rid of every single player that was
Speaker 9: drafted by Josh Burns. And so I remember how strange
Speaker 9: it was seeing trade Turner. He couldn't get rid of
Speaker 9: him yet he's there on spring training knowing he's going
Speaker 9: to be traded.
Speaker 8: It was so awkward.
Speaker 9: But yes, he tried to get him back and did
Speaker 9: and that didn't work right.
Speaker 1: So, yes, he pursues the top talent and he's got
Speaker 1: a good track record, and he's he's a fun GM
Speaker 1: to follow. Fans cannot complain about the activity that he creates.
Speaker 1: All right, go for it, Marty, do your thing. We've
Speaker 1: kept you long enough have fun kidd us. Yeah, perfect time.
Speaker 1: Do your thing, Marty, thank you, love it, love it.
Speaker 1: It's summertime. Kids are, kids are everywhere, They're home exactly.
Speaker 1: Marty's awesome. Check her out with Darren Smith. Check him
Speaker 1: out on Friar Territory.
Speaker 6: Looking on the screen.
Speaker 1: An episode that had Kirchin, they're great, they're trade deadline
Speaker 1: episode was really what it did.
Speaker 6: Give it a listen.